Notes from Germany

I am an American expat living in Germany. It's a far away land on the other side of the ocean. It's interesting and often weird here. If you read this and want to comment then email me at blog(the at symbol)chillmost.com. If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, you can keep them.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Feeling The Pinch

Home energy costs hit Germans in pocketbook
The average 2.1-person German household spent €267 ($392) in July on energy, according to government estimates. The average German household paid €221 per month in 2006 and €172 per month in 2002 for the same usage.
That sounds about right. No more disposable income. I just put gas in my car and paid 61,41 EUR for 41,52 Liter of regular gas. With today's exchange rate that is about $8.21 per gallon. Damn.

Here is a very interesting interview with Andrew J. Bacevich (Seriously, watch this!). They mention President Jimmy Carter's "Malaise Speech" from 1977.
It's a very powerful speech, I think, because President Carter says in that speech, oil, our dependence on oil, poses a looming threat to the country. If we act now, we may be able to fix this problem. If we don't act now, we're headed down a path in which not only will we become increasingly dependent upon foreign oil, but we will have opted for a false model of freedom. A freedom of materialism, a freedom of self-indulgence, a freedom of collective recklessness. And what the President was saying at the time was, we need to think about what we mean by freedom. We need to choose a definition of freedom which is anchored in truth, and the way to manifest that choice, is by addressing our energy problem.

He had a profound understanding of the dilemma facing the country in the post Vietnam period. And of course, he was completely hooted, derided, disregarded.
Wow, America had the chance to stand up and set an example, but they uh, well, just didn't.

Until the energy crisis is solved, or we are all dead, whichever comes first, almost every conflict in the world is going to be about oil. That and water.

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